Mastering Rate of Sale Calculators for On-Trade Brands to Boost Your Sales

Rate of Sale Calculator for On-Trade Brands.

If you’re selling into the on-trade, one number matters more than any other: Rate of Sale.

Not followers. Not distribution. How fast your product moves — that’s what tells you whether your brand is earning its place on the bar.

What Is Rate of Sale?

Rate of Sale (RoS) measures how quickly your product sells through a venue over a set period.

High RoS = your brand is pulling. Low RoS = it’s pushing. And eventually, it gets delisted.

How to Calculate It

"RoS"="Units Sold" /("Number of Venues" ×"Time Period" )

Example: 120 kegs sold across 40 venues in one month.

"RoS"=120/40=3" kegs per venue, per month"

On-Trade Benchmarks

Category Benchmark RoS

Beer (draught) 1–3 kegs per tap, per week

Spirits 1–3 bottles per SKU, per week

Wine 6–18 bottles per week

Cocktails 20–60 serves per week

If you’re consistently below the lower end, something needs to change — the product, the placement, or the activation.

Measuring Activation Impact

Want to know if a campaign actually worked? Compare your RoS before and after.

"Uplift (%)"=("RoS During" -"Baseline RoS" )/"Baseline RoS" ×100

Example: Baseline = 2 kegs/week. During activation = 2.8 kegs/week.

"Uplift"=40

That’s the number you bring to a JBP review.

The Bigger Picture

RoS isn’t just a commercial metric — it should shape your entire digital strategy. Your content, your campaigns, your influencer activity. All of it should be built around moving product in real venues with real teams.

That’s the difference between brand activity and commercial growth.

Collingsmith & Co helps drinks brands build digital strategies grounded in on-trade commercial reality. Get in touch.